


Babes in the Dark Castle...

by Of_Princes_and_Savages



Series: Beauty within the Beast 'verse [3]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: And lots of spite, Counterstrike to 6x09, Dark One Belle, F/M, SCREW CANON READ FANON, Spinner Rumpelstiltskin, and a baby
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-27
Updated: 2016-11-27
Packaged: 2018-09-02 16:37:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8674762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Of_Princes_and_Savages/pseuds/Of_Princes_and_Savages
Summary: Rumpelstiltskin felt like he was starting to understand his mistress...and then she brought home a new acquisition in a deal he didn't understand at all.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is gonna take place between chapters 16 and 17 of Beauty within the Beast, enjoy my spite-based premptive fic.

Rumpelstiltskin had just finished polishing the table in the great room, and intended on taking the dry laundry off the line outside. At least...that had been his intentions. Before his mistress swept in with a basket and plopped it down on the table as she passed by. "Keep an eye on that," she said briskly, not even breaking stride to reach a stack of scrolls she'd left on a side table.

Rumpelstiltskin drew the basket towards him, wondering what Belle had brought to the castle. He'd seen a clockwork nightingale, a gauntlet, and a basket of strawberries. And he wasn't sure if Belle had traded something for the strawberries or simply got-

"This is a baby."

"Mmhmm..." Belle hummed, flicking through her scrolls. "Right you are."

"This is...a baby," Rumpelstiltskin repeated dumbly. "You-Where did you find a baby? No. Wait, where are the parents?"

"Not important, it belongs to me now-Ah, there we go!" Belle plucked a scroll out the stack and tucked it under her arm as she hurried out the room. "I've got work to do, see that I'm not disturbed."

Rumpelstiltskin leaned his hip against the table so he could pick up the babe with both hands. It was a trick he'd picked up with Baelfire, as long as he could shift his boy onto his left arm, the right hand would still hold his staff securely. Fortunately he hadn't quite forgotten the trick.

"W-wait, wait," Rumpelstiltskin protested, glancing down at the infant, wrapped up in all white with a little knit hat. It was difficult to tell if they were a boy or a girl at this point. Belle had even called, er, them, an "it", come to think of it. "A-at least tell me their name."

"Not important, I believe I said that already!" Belle waved her hand, pausing on the other side of the table to glare at him. "Not important, unimportant, does not matter. You don't want to get attached to it..."

There was a pause and Rumpelstiltskin brought the child closer to his chest. Once a father...

"Well, as I've said thricely now, _not important_ ," she sniffed, pivoting to sweep out the room. "Just keep an eye on the babe!"

Ordinarily, Rumpelstiltskin wouldn't be concerned. He'd learned that way of spinning and flouncing away was Belle's method of a dignified retreat, like a snooty cat. All she needed was a tail sticking up in the air. But what on Earth was she going to do with a baby?

* * *

Now while her caretaker likely thought Belle had some sort of...recipe for infant au jus or somesuch, or perhaps planned to rip out the tiny thing's heart and sacrifice it to a demon. No, nothing so exotic. Quite honestly human sacrifices were sooo dull. It was all about doom and death and despair, where was the panache in that?

The baby had a purpose, naturally. Just not a culinary one.

Nudging a bubbling bowl of sulphuric acid aside, Belle unfurled the scroll and skimmed her eyes over it. Now, so long as Rumpelstiltskin didn't say, drop the babe on its head or anything. Yes. That would be problematic for the child...

And her caretaker if he damanged the merchandise, so to speak.

* * *

Rumpelstiltskin hadn't really had contact with a baby since Baelfire was one. Before he'd come home a cowardly deserter, most mothers didn't mind if their children hung around the skinny little spinner. When the war started and men started leaving the village, some were even glad their sons had a good male influence in their lives. After he came back from his own stint as a soldier boy? Nobody wanted their child within ten feet of Rumpelstiltskin unless they were throwing things at him.

Maybe they thought cowardice was catching.

Clearly it wasn't, as Baelfire had liked climbing the tallest trees and playing in the woods well after dark, and all sorts of things Rumpelstiltskin had never had the stomach for.

All things considered, Rumpelstiltskin could handle looking after a babe for a bit. Especially since they went back to sleep not long after Belle left the Great Room. People often underestimated jut how soundly a baby could sleep, and it was no trouble at all to carry the little one in the basket they had arrived in down to the courtyard to attend to the laundry. There were mostly his things hanging up, a few of Belle's flimsy blouses, and some towels. Nothing much, all put away quickly enough. Rumpelstiltskin had brought the babe into the kitchen and left them to sit near the hearth, but not _too_ near, and then went back for the laundry basket.

Done and done.

That was it for his previously scheduled chores for today, all he had to do was put the laundry away. However, Rumpelstiltskin decided to take this time to find some essentials to care for a baby. Diapers of course, perhaps a bottle of some sort. A child of this size could still be nursing, or perhaps they were ready for slightly more solid fare like porridge.

He was going to have to ask Belle.

Rumpelstiltskin wasn't so much afraid as _wary_ of his mistress, nowadays. She'd taken him out of that damp cell in the dungeons, made sure he ate regularly, dressed warmly. It was a better fate than he could have hoped for, even though his son was...well Rumpelstiltskin didn't know where he was, exactly, but he imagined it was far from the Frontlands since it didn't snow all winter. But his stomach still twisted in knots at the thought of asking the Dark One for anything.

He reasoned with himself, however, that Belle had put the babe in his charge, told him to care for it. And he couldn't very well do that without the means to feed and clean the child. And it was better to ask while they were sleeping peacefully, than wailing and soiled.

Rumpelstiltskin brought himself and his charge up to the library, and found Belle there digging through a book at her desk. He cleared his throat, weakly, and nearly said "nevermind" when Belle's flat blue eyes flicked towards him.

"Yes Rumple?"

"Um..." he swallowed, running his tongue along his dry lips. "Th-the baby?"

"Yes?" Belle blinked.

"I-I, um," the former spinner nodded down at the basket he set down on a table. "I w-was wondering if I could h-have some...some necessities, f-for them?"

"Necessities?" she repeated, her brows furrowing.

 _'Just spit it out man,'_ he chided himself mentally. "Yes. L-like diapers, a bottle if they're nursing, and milk, perhaps a change of clothes if they'll be staying for more than a day-"

"They'll be gone tomorrow," Belle waved her hand, then pressed her white lips together. "What sort of milk? I don't have to go out and kidnap a wet nurse, do I?"

For all she abandoned them later in life, Milah at least had nursed Baelfire until his first tooth came in. And Rumpelstiltskin didn't think it was his place to chide his wife for not wanting to put a mouthy babe that chewed on everything near her breast. He'd heard one widower in the village trying to give his babe goat's milk with varying degrees of success...

Belle's nose crinkled and she snapped her fingers, four bottles of milk appearing on the table. "Just try that, if it doesn't work, I'll look into that kidnapping idea."

Rumpelstiltskin nodded slowly. "What...what do you usually...how do you usually care for babes?"

"Usually I have a ready use for it when I collect them. _That_ little grub is wrapped up in a uniquely difficult deal."

Rumpelstiltskin frowned, stroking one of the infant's tiny hands. "It's a baby, not an insect."

One delicate brow arched up and Rumpelstiltskin felt very stupid. Of course the Dark One didn't care for his opinion, especially about babies. However, Belle shrugged, and gave another dissmissive wave. "Doesn't matter. Just see it's taken care of until tomorrow and then you won't have to worry about what I call it."

Something about that statement did not put him at ease, but he nodded. He looked at the bottles and wondered how the hell he was going to carry them and a baby and keep his balance with his staff...

_Poof!_

A swirl of sparkling golden smoke blotted out Rumpelstiltskin's vision and suddenly he was back in the kitchen, the baby on the counter with the milk, blissfully unaware of what had happened.

* * *

The reason this project Belle was working on was taking so long was human error. Not human error in _"oh, I made a mistake,"_ sort of fashion, no, more like, _"Wait Dark One, we might not need you after all!"_

While it would be lovely if people realized she wasn't the solution to every damnable problem in the realm, Belle would just as happily never have to deal with idiots who couldn't make up their minds. It would probably be wrong to walk up and thrust the child at them and snap, **"You want it or not?"**

That would get the message across clearly, but that wouldn't give Belle her end of the bargain. Which was unacceptable.

_Arrgh!_

Belle's infrequent, though famous, deals involving infants typically went so smoothly. There were always someone greedy and desperate enough to want to be rid of their child, but she only made those deals when she had a use for the grub. Sorry. _Baby_. And Belle didn't think that destitute farmers like Prince Farming's parents or the odd girl that just made a mistake were greedy or necessarily desperate, but those were the sorts she dealt with more often than not. They had good intentions, understood the price to be paid.

This wealthy couple named Jack and Jill, (how utterly unoriginal,) were one of many farmers suffering from an unseasonably drought in the southern part of Midas' kingdom, and gold could do much but not make it rain. They had begged Belle to restore the water to their farm and the surrounding lands, and offered their child in exchange. The baby girl wouldn't live without water, so it was more than fair. Belle had put an end to the drought when she collected the babe, and had anticipated a use for them immediately.

However...things weren't going as smoothly as she'd hoped. She needed a fallback now.

The rest of the afternoon, once she left the child with her caretaker, (along with milk and a stack of diapers,) Belle had gone around checking leads. Most of them were duds, but Belle had a handful of promising possibilities.

Belle had returned to the Dark Castle past her usual dinner time. Rumpelstiltskin was usually in his room at this point, and Belle figured he had his hands full with his charge, too full to pester for a cup of tea. Tea she could make on her own, and wanting to stretch her legs, Belle walked to the kitchen and made it herself. Sometimes not using magic for tasks was pleasing, proof that she wasn't all dark magic and schemes.

Funny, she'd never really cared about that until she woke up hungover after a night left in her caretaker's... _care_.

She brought her tea to the library, planning to read a novel for the hell of it, something to distract her from Rumpelstiltskin and the baby.

Wait.

Rumpelstiltskin and the baby?

No, her eyes weren't playing tricks on her after three centuries. Sitting on the windowseat with the infant bundled in his arms, was in fact, her caretaker, holding the babe so it faced out the window. He gave it these little bounces that seemed to keep it calm, and was murmuring something Belle couldn't catch. Even more bizarre, Rumpelstiltskin was smiling.

Belle had seen him smile before, of course. He wasn't as terrified as he used to be, of course, but Belle had just taken Rumpelstiltskin as a shy sort around people. Babies apparently were a different matter, because he _beamed_ down at the baby in his arms.

In Belle's experience, men didn't have much use for babies beyond the occasional remark. You'd find the odd Duke or King with high expectations for his son, or utter disdain for his daughter. Most of the time, men left the child-rearing to the women until their progeny could walk or talk. Then again...Rumpelstiltskin had raised his son more or less alone. That was primarily why Belle had left the babe in his care.

Still...she hadn't expected him to take to it like a duck to water.

"It's not asleep, is it?" Belle asked quietly, hoping she hadn't startled either.

Rumpelstiltskin shook his head, not bothering to look up. "No m'lady, quite wide awake we are. She starts fussing whenever she looses sight of the window, she's fascinated by the view I suppose."

It was a very nice view, Belle would admit, the thick forest, a glimpse of the sea, the clear night sky like black velvet scattered with diamonds, the moon beaming in the sky. Moonlight filtered through the windows, silvery and soft, illuminating the spinner's longish hair and casting fascinating shadows across his face as he looked up at her with a soft smile.

"I suppose," she nodded slowly. "Did you feed it?"

"Mmhmm," he nodded, shifting the babe a bit when it squirmed, snuggling in closer to Rumpelstiltskin's narrow chest, one pink hand clutching at his shirt. "Lucky I tied a napkin around her neck. She's a charming little lady, but a messy eater."

Almost in protest, the baby made a mewling noise that Rumpelstiltskin chuckled at, tugging on her little white hat.

"Yes, you are a very messy eater. You got porridge nearly everywhere but _in_ your mouth. Don't deny it now, we have to keep your clothes clean unless you fancy being wrapped in a towel. It was bad enough you had to spit up on me earlier."

Belle heard herself snickering at the one-sided conversation. She didn't see any mess on Rumpelstiltskin's clothes, although he had taken off his vest and changed his shirt. By all accounts he looked more comfortable than Belle had ever seen him. Fatherhood suited him well, it was easy to understand why he'd stepped forward when she demanded a caretaker, he was devoted to his child's wellbeing, and ending the Ogre War was highly in favor of that.

"My son used to do the same thing after a feeding, when he was little," he volunteered out of the blue, drawing Belle's attention back to him. "I learned pretty quickly towels were a necessity for handling an infant. Er, I'll be needing to wash a few again."

"Fine, fine. They'll be gone tomorrow so you won't have to be a nursemaid much longer."

That comfortable look faltered, and Rumpelstiltskin swallowed thickly. "M-m'lady? Wh-what are you planning to... _do_ to her."

"I'll take it somewhere, don't worry about it."

Even as the words were leaving her mouth, Belle knew they were pointless. Good parents worried. Even when everything was under control, they worried about worst case scenerios. Rumpelstiltskin didn't look the least bit unworried, in fact, he held tighter to the babe and and appeared to be steeling himself the tiniest bit.

"M'lady, I have to know what you're planning to do with this little girl. I won't send her off with you to be...be a...a human sacrifice, or worse."

He probably would have raised his voice if the babe weren't finally nodding off, cuddled against his chest while suckling on her fist.

Belle bit her lip, eyeing the child and the caretaker for a long moment. She probably could have snapped at him, and ordered him to stand down since she was the mistress of the Dark Castle, the one that was in charge, and the Dark One was free to do as she damn well pleased with the baby because she dealt for it fair and squate. She had every right to do so because that was the truth, of course.

"You could hardly get worse than a human sacrifice, but fine. You'll come with me tomorrow," she said crisply, standing up (when had she sat down?) and spinning on her heel. "Dress warmly, both of you, we'll be gone after breakfast."

He wanted to know what she was going to do? Fine. He'd find out.

* * *

While his little charge woke up once more in the middle of the night after she finally fell asleep, Rumpelstiltskin slept poorly anyway. Belle hadn't clarified anything by saying "dress warmly" and he'd been too nervous to drink more than a cup of tea and slice of toast. The baby was capable of sitting up on his lap, with a hand at her back, and her appetite was quite unaffected. He gave her a little porridge, thinned with milk, and tied another napkin around her neck as a makeshift bib to protect her white outfit.

Her parents must have had _some_ money, because no peasant could afford clean white material like that. Baelfire's baby clothes had been made from homespun leftovers from Rumpelstiltskin's work, all serviceable and well-used by the time he outgrew them. If Belle was using the poor thing as an experiment or sacrifice, it was perhaps pointless to keep the little girl's clothes clean, but-

"I'm not going hurt it," Belle said at length, taking a sip from her tea. "I meant it when I said don't worry."

Rumpelstiltskin was irked that Belle kept calling the girl an "it", like she wasn't even human. "They" would have been better. "It" just seemed rude and...distant. Hmm.

"You didn't say what you _were_ doing with her either," he said quietly, wiping porridge from the baby's mouth. "Forgive me if I'm concerned."

"You're forgiven," Belle quipped, tipping an invisible hat.

Rumpelstiltskin sighed, draining the rest of his tea.

It was going to be a long day.

He finished up the breakfast for himself and his charge, then sat her in her basket on the table. She was a very pretty baby, with tiny wisps of dark hair, dark eyes, a button nose, and long lashes and a sweet smile with two little teeth jutting up from her lower gums.

Gods he hoped this wasn't going to go horrible wrong.

Rumpelstiltskin was far too cowardly, far too afraid of what might happen to Baelfire and their village if he ran away, not to mention he didn't know where he was to start with. How could he take care of a baby when they might be miles from civilization? So, obediently, though not without fear, Rumpelstiltskin went upstairs and slipped into his warmest clothes, leaving the baby on the table.

He would be lying if he said he wasn't expecting Belle to dash off and leave him behind, but she was still standing there, although her clothes had changed.

She wore a dress that was almost all solid, close-fitting green velvet, with long flared sleeves trimmed with silver thread. It came almost down to her ankles, with a sort of cutaway starting from the black belt at her hips, over a patchwork underskirt of silver, pale gold, and mint green silks. Her feet were still bare though, her toes painted black, to match the fur trim of her winter cloak.

Rumpelstiltskin watched his mistress from the doorway, as she stood leaning over the basket curiously watching the babe. The end of her braid had fallen over her shoulder, and he smiled at the little hand that stretched up and grasped at the tempting target of hair. Belle leaned away, but wiggled her fingers instead over the babe.

A tiny giggle bubbled up from the basket, matched by Belle's beautiful smile as she played with the baby.

Rumpelstiltskin's heart skipped a beat, but he was more curious about how Belle could be so distant and indifferent towards the baby until no eyes...of course. No one was watching, as far as Belle knew. No one to see what she may consider a moment of weakness. His mistress wasn't a heartless woman, he knew that. But she often seemed out of practice with kinder emotions. Seeing her so unguarded was lovely, but also brought up the question of what she planned to do with the child.

Well, only one way to find out...

* * *

Belle had stopped playing with the babe just before Rumpelstiltskin returned, and she slid her cool mask into place again. He tucked another blanket around the baby, "Just in case," he said, and then lifted up the basket.

The baby looked quite snug and curious, undoubtedly wondering where her temporary guardians were taking her now. Not many babies took to teleporting well, it made most cry, some threw up, but this one was a hardy little beastie. So with a snap of her fingers, they were transported into the far north of the Enchanted Forest, where it was still bitterly cold and snow still covered the ground.

Rumpelstiltskin checked to make sure the baby was warm, and then Belle led them along the half-obscured path towards a village that resembled a cluster of gingerbread houses with frosted roofs and icicles hanging from the eaves. People were already out and about, but as soon as they saw Belle striding down the street with a servant in tow carrying a basket, they scurried to the nearest shelter. It never failed to be amusing, really.

"Wh-where are we going?" Rumpelstiltskin asked, and Belle wasn't sure if he was scared or simply freezing.

"Just a little further, 'round the corner," she said, watching some fat man dart ahead of them, and she smiled. "We're expected, I should think."

Sure enough, the same chubby fellow was running away from the bakery just as they turned the corner. Another man, more muscular than fat, stuck his head out, but instead of fear, he ran back inside with a glimpse of a smile on his face.

Belle held the door for Rumpelstiltskin and withdrew the baby from the basket once they were all inside the bakery. Her caretaker was looking around like he was starting to catch on to what was happening...or maybe he still thought she was going to grind tiny bones into flour. Though she'd have to go to a miller for that. Which was far beside the point here--

"Are you..." Rumpelstiltskin started slowly, pointing from her to the door behind the counter, that might lead to some sort of upstairs area where the baker and his wife lived. "You're...this is what you had planned?"

Belle grinned, taking the baby's little wrist and waving her hand 'bye-bye'. It wouldn't due to admit she kept an index of how many people requested a child procured by the Dark One, and had selected this baker and his wife at long last. They were good, honest people, the girl would never go hungry, and ideally she'd have a trade ahead of her, too.

"Bid farewell to your charge, Rumple, she's not returning with us. She has a new home."

* * *

The baker and his wife, a heavyset but pleasant-faced woman, had been nothing short of overjoyed when Belle handed them the baby. Rumpelstiltskin felt himself smiling, warmed from head to toe when the baker had insisted on shaking Belle's tiny hand in both of his huge ones, and the new mother had pushed a large, soft loaf of white bread at Rumpelstiltskin.

Clearly the baby girl was going to have perfectly loving parents.

Once their thanks was given, and Belle was given a golden egg, the Dark One seemed uncomfortable and pulled Rumpelstiltskin out the door. They weren't missed in the slightest, and Rumpelstitlskin didn't mind. He did, however, want to now how a baker came into possession of a solid gold egg.

Belle looped her arm through his free one as they walked, regarding the glittering object in her hand.

"Mmm, long story. See, there was once a couple that was quite rich, but wasteful. They spent their whole fortune and were forced to sell their grand mansion, and live on a tiny farm where they worked just outside this very village. Unaccustomed to labor, it was like a godly punishment. In time they likely would have learned to adjust, but instead, they found that their goose laid golden eggs. They relapsed and went back to their grand spending, though they still lived on the farm, and had servants and fine clothes. One of their first payments had been to the baker, so that they ate soft, storebought bread for a year on a single egg."

Rumpelstiltskin nodded, the warmth of her against his side distracting him from paying full attention. "But then...what happened?"

Belle smirked.

"They grew greedy. They decided to kill the goose and take all the golden eggs for themselves, instead of waiting on the goose to lay one new egg each day."

"That's...that's not how eggs work," Rumpelstiltskin blinked. "That's-I mean, _really_ , m'lady?"

"I know, right? So they killed the golden goose-it was really no different than any other goose, though,-and lost their golden eggs forever. They went back to working themselves to the bone on the farm until they were sent to jail for trying to steal from a neighbor. I actually didn't have anything to do with that story, though they like saying I gave them the goose. I'm very busy, but not that busy."

That was fair.

"So you traded them a child for this egg?" he asked. "That's...very generous of you."

"Is it? Y'know, wealth is a funny thing. The richest people in the land couldn't buy themselves food on a desert island. It can't cure terminal diseases. It won't bring back the dead or make necessarily them happier. It all depends on how you use it, really."

"Some things simply can't be bought. Like a family."

Belle smiled, softly, up at him. "Exactly. All magic comes with a price, but sometimes you don't need magic at all."

"And...the girl's parents? The first ones?"

"Ah. They were suffering from a drought. The babe wouldn't have survived, so, they offered her as a trade. Usually I don't deal in infants unless I know where they're going first. Babies are high-maintenance commodities, y'know?"

Rumpelstiltskin chuckled. "M'lady, I do believe you are far fairer than your reputation suggests."

Belle cut her eyes at him, frowning, but something flickered in her eyes, and something about the way she jerked back with an offended huff made him think she wasn't disagreeing with that assessment.

What had she said when she dropped the babe in front of him? _'Not important, unimportant, does not matter. You don't want to get attached to it...'_

Belle had been the Dark One for three hundred years. She'd likely dealt with placing more children than this, and her detachment from the child suddenly clicked. Rumpelstiltskin had been protective of her because it was an innocent, dear-faced babe. Children were all innocent and dear in their own ways, without judgement and fear. It might not be his place to say, but that might be just the sort of thing to melt the Dark One's heart.

She'd probably learned the hard way that growing attached to a child was a terrible idea when she had no means of caring for it properly.

It was a lonely life that his mistress had led...

It was even more saddening to think she would outlive his company in her castle...

Rumpelstiltskin screwed up the courage to give Belle's hand a soft squeeze before she took them back to the Dark Castle, pulling away before he could ruin the gesture with words.

But he wasn't going anywhere.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't care how this episode tonight goes, I support Rumbelle, Belle, and Rumpelstiltskin/Gold in the world of fanon where we are not idiots that talk about "fun and hope" when they mean "soul-sucking and depressing." Have a lovely day.


End file.
